Now CEO of Spokane Tribal Enterprises, former Spokane Mayor Mary Verner says that by diversifying business entities owned and operated by the Spokane Tribe of Indians, she hopes the Tribe will be known for more than its casinos.

Achieving that goal, she says, could be aided in part by new businesses it's working on establishing.

Verner, who stepped into her new role February 2012 after David Condon defeated her in the 2011 mayoral election, says Tribal Enterprises has 14 separate businesses spread across eight locations not including casinos. Those businesses include convenience stores, a laboratory, and a number of others.

Verner says revenue figures for 2012 aren't available yet, but that for 2011, Tribal Enterprises brought in about $54 million.

Verner says Tribal Enterprises currently has almost 170 employees. It employed 153 people when she took the position a year ago.

Through a separate gaming division, the Spokane Tribe operates two casinos, the Chewelah Casino and the Two Rivers Casino. The tribe also has proposed a third casino and mixed-used commercial complex on the west side of Airway Heights that has stirred controversy, due partly to the proximity of the proposed development to Fairchild Air Force base. Verner, who isn't involved in gaming operations, declines to comment on casino activity.

Verner says Tribal Enterprises is considering diversifying further, by entering the clean fuel and manufacturing arenas soon.

"Spokane Tribe wants to be at the front of an economy that is changing," Verner says.

She declined to comment on the specifics of what either the clean energy or manufacturing businesses would look like if they came to fruition, saying only the tribe is in the midst of a "due diligence" evaluation process.

In addition to Spokane Tribe's potential foray into clean energy and manufacturing, Verner says she hopes to continue to grow and expand its existing businesses.

She says entering different business markets is a big factor in creating jobs not only for people on the reservation, but nearby communities as well.

"Spokane Tribe has experienced boom-and-bust cycles too many times in the past, so it's important to diversify and move into sustainable businesses," Verner says of the reason behind moving toward clean energy and manufacturing.

She says she hopes Tribal Enterprises will see "gradual growth" in employment during the next few years aided in part by new businesses in the works.

"The sustained jobs that are coming up will begin in earnest in 2014," Verner says, adding new jobs will be primarily labor jobs.

Among Tribal Enterprises' businesses, it has five gas station convenience stores, an auto repair business, a water- and environmental-testing laboratory, and an outdoor concert venue. Within the last year, Verner says it has added five business ventures, two of which—the lab and auto repair business—were converted to for-profit businesses from tribal programs that operated as government entities.

Tribal Enterprises is the umbrella under which the various businesses operate. Tribal members elect people to the Spokane Tribal business council, which is responsible for tribal programs, operating as government entities. The council then appoints the Spokane Tribal Enterprises board of directors, which hired Verner. Spokane Tribal Enterprises is responsible for all corporations, small businesses and enterprises associated with the tribe that operate as for-profit businesses excluding casinos, she says.

"We need jobs on the reservation, so I'm working to provide those jobs," Verner says.

Verner says the laboratory, operating as T-Creek LLC and formerly known as Tshimikain Creek Lab, originally started in the mid-1990s with governmental surplus supplies and space it acquired. She says that lab handles water and environmental testing and analysis, and drug testing.

"The real goal is to whittle away at the 53 percent unemployment rate on the reservation," Verner says. She adds she would like to see that number drop to at least 35 percent in the coming years, and in the long term she would like the reservation unemployment rate to match the national average.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics says the national unemployment rate, which had a 10-year high of 10 percent in October 2009, dropped to 7.7 percent last month from 7.9 percent in January.

Verner says the high unemployment rate is a problem for the reservation that is compounded by the distance between its small towns and other cities. One such way tribe members are able to get to cities is through the main bus service, the Spokane Tribe-owned Moccasin Express, separate from Tribal Enterprises, which runs twice a day from the reservation town of Wellpinit, Wash., to Airway Heights. She says although the Moccasin Express does provide an affordable mass transit option for tribe members, the morning and afternoon bus service makes it difficult to access jobs in urban areas when another form of transportation isn't available. She says there aren't any plans to increase the frequency of the bus at this time.

Springdale and Loon Lake, both located northeast of the reservation and northwest of Deer Park, have requested that the Moccasin Express be extended to serve those areas, she says, adding that any expansion is dependent on further funding for the transportation service. She says the Moccasin Express is the only mass transit option for south Stevens County, which includes both Springdale and Loon Lake.

Verner says Wellpinit, situated 35 miles northwest of Airway Heights is a rural isolated area, making it difficult for people to seek and find work, especially when they don't have their own transportation.

Verner worked for 15 years as the natural resources director for the Spokane Tribe before vying for, and being elected to, the mayoral position in 2007.

Of the transition between mayor and CEO of Tribal Enterprises, Verner says some of her experience as mayor lent itself well to her current job, particularly fiduciary responsibilities tied to managing different business entities.

"Each cumulative experience we've had in our lives makes us better prepared for the one we're experiencing today," Verner says.